Family of India’s 5th President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed excluded from Assam NRC Draft

Family members of India’s fifth President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed were among the 40 lakh people excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) final draft released by Assam government, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed on Tuesday.

Ziauddin Ali Ahmed, the nephew of former President Ahmed, who hails from Assam’s Rangiya town, said he was a little worried about his family’s name not featuring on the list and would try to find the necessary documents to ensure their name is included.

“I am the nephew of former President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, and my name is missing in the NRC, since my father’s name is not in the legacy data,” Scroll.com quoted Ziauddin as saying.

The final draft of Assam NRC included names of 2.89 crore people out of 3.29 crore. Around 40 lakh people, who failed to prove their nationality, were excluded from the list. Those who were not in the list would be considered as “illegal immigrants”.

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According to the NRC rules, those who could not prove that they or their forefathers migrated to India before midnight on March 24, 1971 would be declared foreigners.

However, the Supreme Court directed the government to give people not in the list a fair and reasonable opportunity to contest their exclusion. The apex court also asked the Centre to formulate a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) plan to deal with the claims and objections.

On this, Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) coordinator Prateek Hajela told the court that people removed from the list will be given ample opportunities to prove their citizenship and the claims and objections with regard to inclusion and exclusion in the NRC could be filed from August 30 to September 28.

Also Read | No coercive action will be taken over Assam's NRC list: Supreme Court